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Regional Report: Malleolo, Davis, CFNE Going to California

The North East Regional winners have been crowned after leaving it all out in the field at the end of day’s chipper.

Austin Malleolo, Daniel Tyminski and Spencer Hendel were the top three men. Jenny Davis, Alicia Gomes and Jessa Lemoine were the top three women. And CrossFit New England, CrossFit Southie and Champlain Valley CrossFit were the top three teams.

Men

With only four points separating the top four men coming into Event 6, 1st place was anyone’s for the taking.

Spencer Hendel was able to complete the workout almost 2 minutes faster than David Charbonneau, earning him the 3rd spot on the podium.

The battle was heated between Daniel Tyminski, who came into Event 6 in 1st place, and 2011 North East Regional winner Austin Malleolo. Malleolo went unbroken in all 3 rounds of 345-pound deadlifts, and strung together quick and efficient muscle-ups. He ended up winning the event and securing 1st place overall.

“I just had to keep going,” Malleolo says. “I had to trust my legs. I found a rhythm and just stayed with it. I wanted to win an event and that hadn’t happened all weekend. Dan (Tyminski) was 2 reps behind me on the burpee box jumps, so I knew that when I got back to the rings. I had to go unbroken on the muscle-ups.”

He adds: “I had a consistent weekend, but it was completely different than last year. It’s fun and humbling at the same time. Last year I killed it at Regional. This year, I want to peak at the Games.”

Malleolo also says he has changed his training.

“I’m focusing on my technique, running hill sprints and even swimming in the ocean.”

Women

No women finished Event 6.

Coming into the workout in 4th place, Alicia Gomes’ gymnastics background was highlighted by her efficient muscle-ups and graceful toes-to-bar. She got the furthest of any female competitor with 24 burpee box jumps and a 2nd-place finish overall.

As a high-school teacher, Gomes had the added pressure of not letting her students down.

“When I left, they all asked me: ‘Are you going to make it to the next level? When you come back to school, you better tell us you made it!” Gomes says. “So now I can.”

Jenny Davis finished the workout in 3rd place, which was enough to secure her 1st overall.

Davis says she “had a strategy going in, but couldn’t stay with it.”

“I ended up doing more singles on muscle-ups and toes-to bar than I wanted,” she says. “I just didn’t feel the way I wanted to feel in the rings. I knew it was going to be hard, but the heat and the rips in my hands made it extra rough.”

Emily Friedman was third Event 6, showing proficiency in the rings, but the performance was not enough to get her an invitation to California.

Team

For the teams, it all came down to the muscle-ups.

After an unexpected Day 1, CrossFit New England dominated the next two days, reaching its goal of getting an invitation to California. The team placed 1st in the last four out of six events, finishing the weekend in 1st place.

Mel Ockerby, who was on CFNE’s team when it won the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup, says she’s excited the team was able to recover from its shoddy performance on Friday.

“I’m so happy to go back to the Games,” Ockerby says. “Games was the goal. (The) Regional is behind us and now we just get ready for the Games.”

CrossFit Southie came into Event 6 knowing it was going to be tough. The team finished the workout in 12th place, after having their female team members struggle with the last muscle-ups.

“We picked the four strongest athletes for this workout,” says CrossFit Southie team member Amy Ferro. “I can usually do 20 muscle-ups straight, but the weekend caught up to us on the rings. We placed high in the other events, so I knew there was a little room in this workout. I’m just glad we did well enough to finish in 2nd place (overall).”

CrossFit Fenway and Shoreline CrossFit were locked in a race for 3rd place in Event 6, with both teams’ female athletes struggling through their last muscle-ups and getting off the rings within 1 second of each other. Unfortunately, neither performance was enough to earn either team the chance to advance to the Games.